Tuesday, January 30, 2018

In truth, undocumented migration is not an aberration of
“normal” immigration. It is the inevitable result of any general policy of
immigration restriction.

By Mae Ngai, New York Times

January 28, 2018

Congress has about another month before Deferred Action for
Childhood Arrivals, the Obama-era program that protects young undocumented
immigrants from deportation (and which President Trump terminated in
September), officially comes to an end. It remains to be seen whether Congress
will legalize these so-called Dreamers, and what concessions will be made in
return. But this much is certain: Any deal will include appropriations for
enhanced border enforcement.

We’ve been here before. The last major immigration reform
bill, the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, which was signed by
President Ronald Reagan, legalized nearly three million undocumented immigrants
in exchange for increased enforcement along the United States-Mexico border.[…]

On Monday, United States District Judge Katherine Forrest ruled
that the “the government has acted wrongly” and with “unnecessary cruelty” in
detaining the well-known immigrant advocate during a routine check-in earlier
this month, and ordered his immediate release from a correctional facility in
Orange County, New York. Noting that, “there is, and ought to be in this great
country, the freedom to say goodbye,” Forrest repeatedly condemned the
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency’s actions. “This abrupt and by all
accounts unnecessary detention, a step in the direction of deportation, was
wrong,” she declared.[…]

In an impassioned rebuke of the Trump administration’s
immigration practices, a Federal District Court judge in Manhattan Monday
ordered the immediate release of the immigrant rights activist Ravi Ragbir,
calling his abrupt detention on Jan. 11 unconstitutional and cruel.

Mr. Ragbir, a native of Trinidad and Tobago who has been
ordered to leave the country by immigration officials, should have been
entitled to “the freedom to say goodbye,” as Judge Katherine B. Forrest, of the
United States District Court of the Southern District of New York, put it in
her opinion.[…]

Sunday, January 28, 2018

\The media focus on Trump’s DACA termination shouldn’t
distract us from the ongoing threat to
more than 400,000 immigrants with Temporary Protected Status (TPS). So
far, the administration has announced end dates for Haitian, Nicaraguan,
Salvadoran, and Sudanese TPS recipients, and Hondurans are afraid they’ll be
next. Haitian groups are trying to get public attention for the suffering the
policy will inflict on survivors of Haiti’s 2010 earthquake. Hondurans,
meanwhile, are watching the violent suppression of protests as a U.S.-backed
president takes office; international observers refused to certify his highly
questionable election last November.—TPOI editor

Maica’s Story

By Haitian Women for Haitian Refugees

To Whom It May Concern:
My name is Maica and I immigrated from Haiti after the deadlyearthquake
in 2010. There I was buried under a building for six days and was presumed
dead. My eleven year old little brother and my aunt died right next to me, and
both decomposed on top of me during the six days that I was there. When they
finally unearthed me, although my little brother had died, I managed to
survive. After battling an infection that couldn’t be treated, I had to have
both of my legs amputated. Luckily I was flown to New York where I was
hospitalized for many months and had many, many surgeries.

Here, I was helped by many strangers who became my family
over the years. I was blessed enough to get a scholarship to a lovely
prestigious high school. I was able to graduate and go to college. Over the
years, I was helped by the Haitian Women for Haitian Refugees (HWHR), an
organization that responds to the needs of Haitian refugees and immigrants, for
which I am a volunteer. During my schooling, I volunteered for several other
organizations such as The Epiphany Soup Kitchen, Surgeons of Hope and Methodist
Hospital. I was also able to work at my high school’s summer camp, the
Salvation Army and Goodwill. Then I attended nursing school for three years
where I got my Associate in Nursing Sciences.[…]

Amid fierce protest, Honduras inaugurates a president
accused of stealing the election

Between Nov. 29 and Dec. 31, at least 30 people were
killed, 232 wounded and 1,085 detained, according to the Committee of the
Families of the Disappeared in Honduras, a human rights group.

By Kate Linthicum, Los Angeles Times

January 27, 2018

Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez was sworn in for a
second term Saturday amid violent clashes between police and protesters who
insist Hernandez was not legitimately elected.

Soldiers and riot police fired tear gas and set up
barricades to block thousands of demonstrators from marching to Tegucigalpa's
National Stadium, where Hernandez was presented with the blue-and-white sash of
office in an elaborate morning ceremony.[…]

Saturday, January 27, 2018

A number of local politicians held a press conference in
front of the Federal Building in Lower Manhattan today focusing on the detention
of immigrant rights activists such as New York residents Jean
Montrevil and Ravi
Ragbir. So far, thirty-three members of Congress have signed on to a letter
questioning the detentions, and speakers were often quite passionate: Rep.
Yvette Clarke denounced the building behind her as “the headquarters of the
Gestapo of the United States of America.” In response to reporters’ questions,
several members of Congress spoke out against New York police actions
supporting federal immigration agents; they said local politicians are meeting
with Mayor Bill de Blasio to discuss the issue.

Still, the Congress members were vague about how much they
might be willing to compromise with Republican hardliners to get legal status
for DACA recipients—although Rep. Nydia Velázquez did dismiss the White House’s
new immigration
proposal as “a ransom note” using the Dreamers as “hostages.” There was no
discussion of the administration’s termination of TPS programs or of strategies
for longterm immigration reform. So we’ll have to wait and see how well the
politicians’ actions match their rhetoric.—TPOI editor

Statement: Velázquez, Crowley Call on ICE to End Targeting
of Immigrant Activists

By Justice for Ravi

January 27, 2018

(New York, New York) —Flanked by community leaders and
immigration rights activists, Reps. Nydia M. Velázquez (D-NY), Joe Crowley
(D-NY), Chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, and members of the New York
City Congressional delegation called today for a meeting with the Secretary of
Homeland Security and the acting Director of Immigration and Customs
Enforcement to discuss the agency’s recent targeting of immigrant activists for
detainment and deportation.

Outside of local ICE headquarters, the Members of Congress
highlighted four cases of community leaders who were recently detained after
speaking out against the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant policies. This includes Ravi Ragbir, a prominent New
York City activist, who was detained by ICE in January.[…]

After being detained during a routine check-in at the
Immigration and Customs Enforcement office

Ravi Ragbir. Photo: Tequila Minsky

at Broadway and Worth St. on Jan. 11, immigrant-rights activist Ravi
Ragbir was promptly flown down to the Krome Detention Center in Miami. There,
Ragbir, the executive director of the Judson Church-based New Sanctuary
Coalition, was poised to be deported back to Trinidad. Ragbir’s lawyers quickly
filed an appeal to block his deportation and also return him to the New York
area. In Miami detention, Ragbir spent
Martin Luther King Day with fellow immigrant activist and New Sanctuary
Coalition co-founder Jean Montrevil, who was deported to Haiti the following
day.[…]

Friday, January 26, 2018

Poor Stephen Miller. On January 25 he finally got to
present his full anti-immigrant program as the nonnegotiable position of the U.S. executive branch—and suddenly his spot in the limelight was stolen by a New
York Times report that yes, Donald Trump really had tried to fire Special
Counsel Robert Mueller. People like Miller love the word “illegal,” at least
when applied to people with dark skin. They fail to notice the irony that they
are working for a man whose whole career has been based on breaking or
circumventing laws—a career that started with violations of anti-discrimination
laws and may end with an effort to get around the special counsel statute. So
if 11 million people should be deported for “unlawful presence” in the U.S.,
what should we do about Donald Trump’s unlawful presence in the White
House?—TPOI editor

The immigration deal Trump’s White House is floating,
explained

1.8 million immigrants could ultimately get access to
citizenship — but the White House wants big cuts to family-based immigration in
return.

By Dara Lind, Vox

January 25, 2018

The Trump administration is finally playing ball on immigration.

On Wednesday, it announced it would release a “framework”
for a bill it hoped to see pass Congress. On Thursday, details of that
framework leaked to several news outlets, including NBC and the Daily Beast.

Those reports say that the administration is willing to
allow 1.8 million unauthorized immigrants who came to the country as children
to become legal residents and ultimately apply for US citizenship — including
the 690,000 beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)
program, as well as others who would have been eligible for DACA but did not
apply — in exchange for a $25 billion fund for its wall on the US/Mexico
border; reallocating slots currently given to immigrants via the diversity visa
lottery on the basis of “merit”; and preventing people from sponsoring their
parents, adult children, or siblings to immigrate to the US.[…]

Trump Ordered Mueller Fired, but Backed Off When White House
Counsel Threatened to Quit

By Michael S. Schmidt and Maggie Haberman, New York
Times

January 25, 2018

WASHINGTON — President Trump ordered the firing last June of
Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel overseeing the Russia investigation,
according to four people told of the matter, but ultimately backed down after
the White House counsel threatened to resign rather than carry out the
directive.

The West Wing confrontation marks the first time Mr. Trump
is known to have tried to fire the special counsel. Mr. Mueller learned about
the episode in recent months as his investigators interviewed current and
former senior White House officials in his inquiry into whether the president
obstructed justice.[…]

Thursday, January 25, 2018

Two-thirds of the population lives in the government's 100-mile border zone. Graphic: ACLU

Border Patrol Checking Papers of Greyhound Passengers in
Florida

Most Americans are unaware that two-thirds of the U.S.
population – about 200 million people – live within the 100-mile border zone
where Border Patrol is authorized to conduct enforcement operations, according
to the ACLU.

By Anna Núñez, America's VoiceJanuary 24, 2018

A video of Border Patrol agents boarding a Greyhound bus
asking people to show them their papers has garnered over 2.5 million views on
Facebook according to the Florida Immigration Coalition (FLIC).

Last Friday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents
boarded a Greyhound bus in Fort Lauderdale to question passengers about their
immigration papers. “They asked for documentation and it had to be specifically
U.S. identification or a passport with a stamp of entrance,” passenger Raquel
Quesada told a local CBS affiliate.

Passengers were shocked that their citizenship would be
questioned and proof of citizenship was being asked during a routine trip
between Florida cities. FLIC shared a video on Twitter (provided by an
anonymous passenger) of a Jamaican woman in her 60s, later identified as
“Beverly,” who was removed from the bus by Border Patrol agents. She had come
to the country legally with a visitor’s visa and had just met her granddaughter
for the first time, said her daughter-in-law in a posted statement by FLIC.
Additional video here and here shows the grandmother being detained by CBP.[…]

Community Organizations Across the U.S. Join Together To
Condemn the Recent Actions of ICE and Demand the Department of Homeland
Security Reverse the Agency’s Unlawful Operations

New York, NY: Over
1,800 community organizations, immigrant rights groups, faith-based
organizations, immigrant rights lawyers, professors, and community supporters
from 50 states have submitted a letter
to the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsencondemning
the targeting of leaders in the movement for immigrant rights in the United
States. The letter calls for the immediate release of Ravi Ragbir and Eliseo
Jurado Fernandez from immigration detention, the return of Jean Montrevil from
Haiti, and a halt to the effort to deport Maru Mora-Villalpando, all immigrant
rights leaders who have been targeted for deportation in recent weeks.[…]

Tuesday, January 23, 2018

These two articles detail the ways in which racism has
always been a crucial element in U.S. immigration policy. Paul A. Kramer’s New
York Times op-ed is especially noteworthy for asking “to what extent are
the countries of the global north implicated in forces that prevent people in
the global south from surviving and thriving where they are” and “[i]n what
ways do restrictive immigration policies heighten the exploitation of
workers”—questions rarely brought up in the corporate media. And he emphasizes
that ruling elites exploit racial divisioins in the population to maintain
their own power.—TPOI editor

Trump’s Anti-Immigrant Racism Represents an American
Tradition

By Paul A. Kramer, New York Times

January 22, 2018

President Trump has inspired widespread outrage and disgust
with his crude, racist disparagement of Haiti, El Salvador and African nations
and the predominantly black and brown immigrants from these places.

As horrifying as this remark was, his groundbreaking
transparency provides an opportunity. Racism has long fueled United States
immigration exclusions and restrictions, but these days it’s rare to hear
rhetoric that openly reflects this reality, providing us a chance to delve into
its roots and implications.[…]

In 1920, Jews, Italians, Irish and Greeks Were the People
From ‘Shithole’ Countries

By Alan Singer, HuffPost

January 15, 2018

Last week Donald Trump called for blocking immigrants from
“shithole” countries, setting off a

wave of domestic and international
condemnation. Despite reports by eyewitnesses including Senator Dick Durbin of
Illinois, a Democrat, and Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona, a Republican, Trump
denied insulting Haitians, Central Americans, and Africans. He also repeatedly
denies that he is a racist. Representative Mia Love, a Republican and the only
Haitian American in Congress, accepted the truth of the reports, called Trump’s
behavior unacceptable, and demanded an apology.[…]

It’s not
the first time the Democrats have failed the Dreamers. In 2009-2010 the party
controlled the Congress and the White House, but supposed “master strategist”
Chuck Schumer held off on promoting the DREAM Act in the hopes of getting a
comprehensive immigration reform. That didn’t work. The Democrats finally held
a vote on the bill in December, but the effort flopped when five
Democratic senators nixed it. So there’s a reason immigrant
youths don't trust the Democrats.—TPOI editor

United We Dream’s Cristina Jiménez. Photo: Reed Saxon/AP

Liberals livid after deal to end shutdown

Activist groups were angry at how the negotiations turned
out, with some calling it '#SchumerSellout.'

By Elana Schor, Politico

January 22, 2018

Liberal activists are furious with Democratic senators after
most of them agreed to reopen the federal government without a firm path to
shielding young immigrants from deportation.

As the third day of the shutdown dawned, liberal advocates
and immigration groups fired off a joint statement blasting as “unacceptable”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s offer merely to hold a vote on
immigration — with no promises for action from the House or White House — in
exchange for Democratic votes to reopen the government. But three hours later,
Democratic senators agreed to just those terms — sparking anger on the left.[…]

WASHINGTON — The decision by Senate Democrats to end the
government shutdown on Monday in exchange for a promised immigration vote
enraged liberals, who accused the lawmakers of betrayal and threatened to mount
primaries against some of the Democrats who voted yes.

Regardless of what happens in the Senate, progressive and
immigrant advocacy groups said House Republican leaders will never take up a
bill that would offer legal status to young undocumented immigrants brought to
the country as children without excruciating concessions on other immigration
issues. They accused Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader,
and moderate Democratic senators of capitulating to protect senators up for
re-election in November in Republican-leaning states.[…]

This weekend, more than one million people took to the
streets nationwide for the first anniversary of the Women’s March. Though not
nearly as big as the protests a year ago, it was still a larger public
manifestation than anything the Tea Party ever managed. And though the
demonstration was meant as a rebuke to Donald Trump, one central demand was
that Congress stand up for the young undocumented immigrants known as Dreamers,
who were brought to the country as children. They now face deportation because
Trump has moved to end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, an Obama-era
program protecting them.

The energy of the progressive grass roots should be seen as
a valuable resource for Democrats. If Donald Trump’s election taught us
anything beyond the salience of white nationalism among our fellow citizens,
it’s that passion matters, and that people respond when they see a leader who
is willing to champion them even when it’s risky. That’s why it was so infuriating
to see the Senate Democratic leadership sell the Dreamers out.[…]

Sunday, January 21, 2018

Here’s new research supporting our contention that most
native-born people in the U.S. would
benefit from the passage of the DREAM Act. How would it affect the
DREAM Act fight in Congress now if there was more distribution of this sort of
material?—TPOI editor

Rally in support of DACA. AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana

Amy Hsin, The Conversation

January 19, 2018

Earlier this month, hopes were high that a bipartisan
deal could be reached to resolve the fate of the “Dreamers,” the millions of undocumented
youth who were brought to the U.S. as children.

Those hopes all but vanished on Jan. 11 as
President Donald Trump aligned himself with hard-line anti-immigration
advocates within the GOP and struck down bipartisan attempts to reach a
resolution.

As we enter the final hours before a potential government
shutdown, many Democrats are insistingthat any
short-term funding agreement must include a resolution for Dreamers.

One of the arguments advanced by
those who oppose giving them citizenship is that doing so would hurt
native-born workers and be a drain on the U.S. economy. My own research shows
the exact opposite is true.[…]

Saturday, January 20, 2018

This article from Vox gives a pretty clear idea of how the
immigration impasse is playing out in Washington. The Democratic politicians
are generally willing to give away a lot—too much, most activists would say—to
get some protection for DACA recipients. The Republicans, by contrast, are very
divided. Some Republican legislators are willing to compromise, some are not,
and their president is constantly changing his positions—and doesn’t understand those positions. (As the Daily Show noted,
Trump may think the diversity visa involves an actual, physical lottery
drawing!)

Meanwhile, back in the real world, DACA and TPS recipients
are left in a limbo that’s painful for themselves, their families, and their
communities.—TPOI editor

By Tara Golshan and Dara Lind, Vox

January 20, 2018

President Donald Trump sits at the center of the fight to
re-open the federal government, and it’s posing a major problem.

“Negotiating with President Trump is like negotiating with
Jell-O,” Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said on the Senate floor on
the first day of the government shutdown.

Republicans and Democrats are stuck in a standoff over the
future of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which the Trump
administration has promised to fully sunset by March 5. Frustrated with Trump’s
unwillingness to accept a bipartisan proposal to address the nearly 700,000
DACA recipients in legal limbo, Democratic — and some Republican — senators
voted against the short-term spending bill on Friday to force a sense of
urgency over immigration negotiations. The conversation about reopening the
government has become hopelessly entangled with the conversation about what to
do on immigration.[…]

Friday, January 19, 2018

More and more evidence is accumulating: ICE is using its policing
powers in an effort to shut down resistance to the immigration system. So
far, the effort seems to be backfiring. As the repression intensifies, the
resistance seems to keep on growing. One example: nearly 600 people turned out in the cold at
Washington Square on MLK Day for a Jericho walk sponsored by the New Sanctuary
Coalition; this came four days after ICE detainedthe organization’s executive director,
Ravi Ragbir. We can expect still more grassroots activism as political class inaction continues in DC.—TPOI editor

I Stood Up to ICE, and Now They’re
Trying to Deport Me

With the letter delivered to my house, ICE has officially
made the leap from a law enforcement agency to a political repression agency.

Photo courtesy of Maru Mora Villalpando

By Maru Mora Villalpando, Yes! Magazine

January 17, 2018

When I imagined U.S. immigration authorities coming for me,
I never thought it would be by certified mail. And yet this is how it
happened—a few days before Christmas, a knock on my door led to the delivery of
a letter, informing me that I was being placed in deportation proceedings.

My daughter, who opened the letter, started to cry. I
immediately saw this for what it was: their way of trying to intimidate me. I
felt a mix of emotions, but mostly I felt angry.[…]

When word came down from the upper floors of Federal Plaza
in Lower Manhattan that Immigration and Customs Enforcement was taking custody
of Ravidath Ragbir and intended to deport him, hundreds of his supporters,
standing outside on the cold sidewalk, raised up their hands to the monolithic
building and screamed.

Ragbir had entered the building willingly, on his own steam,
accompanied by his wife and family, his legal team, and a handful of elected
officials. Now, his friends outside learned, Ravi — as everyone knows him —
wouldn’t be coming back to them. They had planned for this possibility even as
they hoped it wouldn’t come, but the plans soon gave way to a spontaneous
gesture of resistance. As the ambulance carrying a handcuffed Ragbir — he had
briefly fainted when he was taken into custody — pulled out of the Federal
Plaza garage, supporters attempted to stop its progress. Friends, colleagues,
clergy, and city council members put their bodies in front of the vehicle,
blocking it with their lives.[…]

Wednesday, January 17, 2018

There can now be little doubt that Immigration and
Customs Enforcement is targeting immigration activists and their families
for detention and deportation. Today's Democracy Now! program, linked to below, devoted
much of its time to coverage of these cases. We are also providing links to
other coverage.

It’s important to stay informed, but it’s just as
important to act. New Yorkers can support Jean Montrevil and Ravi Ragbir on
Thursday, January 18, by coming out for one or both of two actions, and
everyone can support Washington state activist Maru Mora-Villalpando by signing
a petition:

On Tuesday, immigrant rights leader Jean Montrevil was
deported to Haiti after residing in the United States for over three decades.
He came to the U.S. from Haiti with a green card in 1986 at the age of 17.
During the height of the crack epidemic, he was convicted of possession of
cocaine and sentenced to 11 years in prison. He served that time. Upon his
release, he married a U.S. citizen, had four children, became a successful
small businessman, as well as an immigrant rights activist. He has had no
further interaction with the criminal justice system. Joining us from Haiti is
Jean Montrevil, who was deported to Haiti on Tuesday. We are also joined by
Jani Cauthen, Jean’s former wife and the mother of three of his children.[…]

View this and subsequent segments, or read the transcripts,
starting here:

ICE tracks down immigrant who spoke to media in SW
Washington: ‘You are the one from the newspaper’

After talking to The Seattle Times about his girlfriend’s
arrest by immigration officials, a Pacific County man was detained himself. He
said an agent told him it was because of what had been written.

By Nina Shapiro, Seattle Times

December 3, 2017

A man who recounted his longtime girlfriend’s arrest in a
Seattle Times story about ramped-up immigration enforcement in Pacific County
last month has now been detained, and says U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) agents told him the arrest was because he was in the
newspaper.[…]

Husband of Peruvian woman taking sanctuary at Boulder church
detained by ICE

By John Bear and Jenn Fields, Denver Post

January 11, 2018

When Ingrid Encalada Latorre’s husband, Eliseo Jurado,
stopped by a Westminster Safeway on Thursday to pick up some items for his
9-year-old stepson, Bryant, and 2-year-old son, Anibal, she didn’t anticipate
that six agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement would snatch him.

“This is an attack on me,” Encalada Latorre said through an
interpreter inside the Boulder Unitarian Universalist Church, where she has
taken sanctuary for less than a month to avoid deportation to her native
Peru.[…]

Hundreds of thousands of immigrants in the U.S. may face
violence and murder in their home countries. What happens when they are forced
to return?

Laura S. Photo:
Carolyn Drake / Magnum/New Yorker

By Sarah Stillman, New Yorker

January 9, 2018 (posted)

On June 9, 2009, just after 2 a.m., Laura S. left the
restaurant where she waitressed, i

Pharr, Texas, and drove off in her white Chevy. She was in
an unusually hopeful mood. Her twenty-third birthday was nine days away, and
she and her nineteen-year-old cousin, Elizabeth, had been discussing party plans
at the restaurant. They’d decided to have coolers of beer, a professional d.j.,
and dancing after Laura put her three sons to bed. Now they were heading home,
and giving two of Laura’s friends a ride, with a quick detour for hamburgers.
Elizabeth said that, as they neared the highway, a cop flashed his lights at
them. The officer, Nazario Solis III, claimed that Laura had been driving
between lanes and asked to see her license and proof of insurance.

Laura had neither. She’d lived in the United States undocumented
her whole adult life.

“Do you have your residence card?” Solis asked.

“No,” Laura said, glancing anxiously at her cousin and her
friends. Solis questioned them, too. Only Elizabeth had a visa, which she
fished out of her purse. Solis directed the others to get out of the car. “I’m
calling Border Patrol,” he said—an unusual move, at the time, for a small-town
cop in South Texas.[…]

Patty is a thirty-eight-year-old Salvadoran mother of two
who has lived in the United States, on Long Island, since 1998. Her father was
killed during El Salvador’s civil war, in the nineteen-eighties, and her mother
fled to the U.S. to seek asylum as a refugee. Patty had initially thought that
she would be eligible for residency in the U.S. through her mother, but that
didn’t work out. “I never understood what happened with my papers,” she told me
Monday night, when we spoke by phone. “But then there was another option.” In
2001, after a string of earthquakes had struck El Salvador, Patty was among the
thousands of Salvadorans who qualified for temporary protected status, or
T.P.S., a federal designation that allowed her to live and work legally in the
U.S. She has renewed her T.P.S. status every eighteen months for the last
seventeen years. During that time, she got married; had her two sons, who are
U.S. citizens; went to community college; and found a job as a secretary at a
financial-services firm.

On Monday morning, the Trump Administration announced its
decision to cancel T.P.S. for Salvadorans.[...]

Sunday, January 14, 2018

There is no evidence that Donald Trump has ever in his
life performed a single selfless act, let alone any act of heroism. Probably he
wouldn’t be able even to imagine the nobility of character I witnessed among
Port-au-Prince residents after the earthquake, and among “alien” activists like
Ravi and Jean here in New York.

By David L. Wilson, MR Online

January 14, 2018

Exactly eight years ago, on January 12, 2010, I happened to
be in Port-au-Prince when a major earthquake struck southern Haiti, killing
tens or hundreds of thousands of people.

That night and in the five days that followed I saw a few
Haitians acting selfishly, but mostly I watched and interviewed people trying
to help each other, many of them digging through rubble with hand tools or bare
fingers, sometimes endangering themselves in attempts to rescue friends,
neighbors, and even complete strangers.[…]

In the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., faith leaders,
elected officials, and immigration and legal advocates will come together to
condemn the institutional oppression of marginalized communities and hold a
"Jericho Walk" in Washington Square Park, around Ai Wei Wei's “Arch”
migration sculpture. A press conference will be held following the vigil to
call for Mr. Montrevil and Mr. Ragbir’s release, and to honor the 18 people who
were arrested putting their bodies on the line in the tradition of peaceful
civil disobedience in defense of Mr. Ragbir.

In the face of Trump’s unprecedented assault on immigrant
communities and blatant racism, the fight for the rights and dignity of
immigrants is more important than ever. Trump’s recent disparaging remarks
about Caribbean and African countries, like Mr. Ragbir and Mr. Montrevil’s
homelands of Trinidad and Haiti, respectively, highlight the critical need for
continued resistance and unity.

Speakers: New York City Councilmembers Jumaane Williams
and Ydanis Rodriguez, who were among the 18 people arrested in an act of civil
disobedience during Thursday’s solidarity vigil; Rev. Kaji Douša, whose
grandfather stood with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as he delivered his “I Have
a Dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial; Rev. Donna Schaper, civil rights
leader and senior minister at Judson Memorial Church; Alina Das, Professor at
New York School of Law and legal counsel to Ravi Ragbir; and loved ones of Jean
and Ravi.

President Trump's racism was on display yet again this week
with his hateful comments about Haitian and African immigrants. We will not let
bigotry divide us, and we will welcome and defend all immigrants! WE ARE
AMERICA!

Friday, January 12, 2018

Immigrants aren't just economic factors; they're human
beings -- in the case of the Dreamers, human beings who have been members of
our society for most of their lives. But even in the Republicans' own terms,
the Dream Act would be a big win for the great majority of us.

By David L. Wilson, Truthout

January 12, 2018

This month is almost certain to bring a major confrontation
in Congress over the fate of the nearly 700,000 young immigrants who are losing
the protection from deportation that they had under President Obama's Deferred
Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, now slated to end on March 5.

Immigrant rights activists are demanding that Congress
safeguard DACA recipients by finally passing some version of the Dream Act,
legislation first proposed in 2001 that would provide legal status for about 2
million immigrants who arrived in the United States as minors. The Republican leadership in Congress, on the other hand, insists that to get any relief for
DACA recipients, Democratic legislators must agree to increases in immigration
enforcement and a tightening of restrictions on authorized immigration.
President Trump tweeted on December 29 that "there can be no DACA without
the desperately needed WALL at the Southern Border and an END to the horrible
Chain Migration & ridiculous Lottery System of Immigration etc."[…]

Thursday, January 11, 2018

The administration is now taking aim at a faith-based New
York activist coalition. This morning ICE detained the New Sanctuary Coalition's executive
director, Ravi Ragbir, during his scheduled check-in at the federal building in
Manhattan. This followed the January 3 detention of another New Sanctuary
activist, Jean Montrevil. The message was clear: the Trump regime is cracking
down on the resistance.

At least 400 people gathered outside the federal building
starting at 9 am today to show support for Ragbir as he attended his
appointment inside. Supporters marched silently for more than an hour and then,
at 10:30 held hands for a few moments, forming a chain around the building.
When word came out that the activist was being detained and removed from the
ICE office, the crowd rushed to the driveway leading into the building’s
garage. A number of protesters attempted to block the vehicle carrying Ragbir
out; the first attempts were beside the building on Duane Street and then
continued for several blocks down Broadway, trying up traffic for about twenty
minutes.

Duane Street: protesters surround vehicle carrying Ravi Ragbir

New York City police arrested a total of 18 demonstrators,
mostly on Broadway in full view of City Hall; New York claims to be a
“sanctuary city,” but its police persist in helping ICE agents carry out their
detentions. Arrestees included two City Council members, Ydanis Rodriguez and
Jumaane Williams, along with Rev. Micah Bucey, Rev. Juan Carlos Ruiz, and other
faith leaders. BuzzFeed News posted footage of the
protests; among other police violations, the tape shows Jumaane Williams
wincing in pain from tight wrist restraints.

As activists protested in Lower Manhattan, Trump was meeting
with lawmakers in the White House to discuss immigration issues. During the
gathering, the president reportedly described immigrants from Haiti, El
Salvador and Africa as “people
from shithole countries.” According to sources familiar with the meeting,
Trump added: ““Why do we need more Haitians? Take them out.” As Jonathan Katz,
formerly the AP correspondent in Haiti, pointed out,
Trump’s remark came one day before the eighth anniversary of the 2010
earthquake that killed tens or even hundreds of thousands of people, including
Haitian-American citizens, in southern Haiti.

The New Sanctuary Coalition is asking for phone
calls to legislators and government officials demanding Ragbir’s
release.—TPOI editor

Hundreds of protesters gathered outside of an Immigration
and Customs Enforcement detention center on the Lower West Side Thursday,
chanting "ICE out now" and demanding to know the whereabouts of a
prominent immigrant rights leader, just hours after two city councilmen were
arrested during a similar protest in Foley Square.

City councilmen Ydanis Rodriguez and Jumaane Williams were
among 18 people who were arrested during the Foley Square protest sparked by
the arrest of Ravi Ragbir, the executive director of faith-based immigrant
rights group New Sanctuary Coalition of New York City. Ragbir was detained when
he showed up for a check-in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement,
organizers of the rally said.[…]

The New Sanctuary Coalition’s executive director was detained today
when he made his regularly scheduled check-in visit to ICE offices at the New
York federal building. The coalition is requesting phone calls to support
Ravi.—TPOI editor

Ravi Ragbir

By New Sanctuary Coalition

January 11, 2018

Please, make phone calls NOW to ICE and to your elected
officials to demand Ravi’s freedom. Click here for a PDF with names, numbers
and instruction for making these calls. When you make these phone calls, please
be respectful, not confrontational.

Script:
“Hello, my name is ___, and I am requesting that ICE release my brother Ravi
Ragbir, A Number: 044-248-862. Ravi was detained today in New York City. I respectfully
ask you to release him from detention and grant him a new stay of removal.
Thank you.”

Thousands of young immigrants have already lost their status
and thousands more will lose their protection in 2018.

We need a clean DREAM Act NOW!

Co-sponsors (list in formation): Asian American Federation, Arab American Association of New York, Chayya Community Development Corporation, CUNY DREAMers, Indivisible Nation BK, MASA, New York DREAMers, New Immigrant Community Empowerment, New York State Immigrant Action Fund, SUNY DREAMers, 32BJ SEIU

Solidarity Vigil Against Deportation at Foley SquareArrests by ICE have escalated in the past few months. One of the New Sanctuary Coalition
co-founders, Jean Montrevil, was arrested and detained by ICE outside his home
this past week. New Sanctuary Coalition may be a target. The executive director, Ravi Ragbir, has his check in this Thursday January 11th at 9 am.

New York City families deserve dignity and respect. Each
day, dozens of New Yorkers facing deportation must check-in with ICE Officers
at 26 Federal Plaza. When they enter the building, they don’t know if they will
be able to see their families again. Now more than ever it is important to show
solidarity in the face of policies that threaten our communities.

Join us for a Jericho Walk to stand with individuals and
families facing deportation. This interfaith act of solidarity will bring
together advocates and supporters to show immigrants that they are not alone.

At 9 am, we will begin the Jericho Walk, circling the
building in silence and thoughtful prayer. Though we walk in silence, our
actions speak to the injustices that our communities face.

Sponsoring organizations: American Friends Service
Committee, Brooklyn Defender Services, Center for Constitutional Rights,
Detention Watch Network, Immigrant Defense Project, LatinoJustice, Make the
Road New York, MinKwon Center for Community Action, National Immigration
Project of the National Lawyers Project, the New York Civil Liberties Union,
Northern Manhattan Coalition for Immigrant Rights, UnLocal, Inc. and a growing
list of others!

Tuesday, January 9, 2018

On January 9 the administration announced that it was
terminating Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for some quarter million
Salvadorans. Along with the termination of DACA and most other TPS programs,
this will end protection from deportation for a total of about 1 million
immigrants. Few of them will be able or willing to return to their countries of
origin. The undocumented population in the U.S. has remained stable at around
11 million for a decade; now the White House, which regularly denounces
“illegals,” actually seems to be working to increase the number. Maybe we should
ask why.—TPOI editor

Trump’s attacks on humanitarian immigration just became a
full-blown war

He’s trying to force 260,000 immigrants to return to El
Salvador after decades in the United States.

By Dara Lind, Vox

January 9, 2018

On Monday, the Trump administration announced that it was
stripping approximately 260,500 Salvadoran immigrants — who’ve been in the US
for at least 17 years, since a 2001 earthquake — of temporary legal status as
of July 2019.

It’s the latest, and most significant, blow in the
administration’s fight against Temporary Protected Status, an immigration
program that lets the government allow immigrants to stay in the US and work
legally after their home countries are struck by natural disasters or war.[…]

[T]he termination of TPS for Salvadorans likely will
cause a significant humanitarian and economic impact for cities such as
Washington, D.C., Miami and Los Angeles.

By Geoff Thale and Elyssa Pachico, The Hill

January 8, 2018

It is no secret that protection offered by the Temporary
Protected Status (TPS) program to Salvadorans, Hondurans and Nicaraguans lasted
beyond “temporary,” extending over many years. Under TPS, migrants unable to
return to their home countries because of war, natural disasters or other
“extraordinary” conditions can live and work in the United States. The U.S.
government granted TPS to Salvadorans in 2001, following two devastating earthquakes
in the Central American country, and because of violence and instability in
subsequent years, continued to approve extensions to the program.[…]

So long as our immigration system is built on contortions
of logic like these, it will be vulnerable to Trump-style cruelty that’s then
justified on the basis of common-sense law enforcement.

David Leonhardt, New York Times

January 9, 2018

The roughly 200,000 Salvadorans whom the Trump
administration is subjecting to deportation are deeply ensconced in American
society.

They have lived here for at least 17 years. Together, they
have about 190,000 children who were born in the United States. The immigrants
“work in a wide array of jobs, from defense contractors to school cafeteria
workers, commercial office cleaners and restaurant owners,” Maria Sacchetti of
The Washington Post writes.[…]

Sunday, January 7, 2018

On December 29 President Trump tweetedthat “there can be no DACA without the desperately needed WALL at the Southern
Border and an END to the horrible Chain Migration & ridiculous Lottery
System of Immigration etc.” As usual, he had no idea what he was tweeting
about, but there’s a lot of confusion about these terms in the general
public—especially about “chain migration,” which is now misused to describe
what was previously known as “family reunification,” “family-based
immigration,” or the “family preference visa.”

Here's what we say in The Politics of Immigration:
Questions and Answers, second edition, Chapter 4, “Why Can’t They Just ‘Get
Legal?’”:

Can’t immigrants bring their extended families here?

If you’re a U.S. citizen, you can generally apply to bring
your “immediate relatives”—spouses, parents or unmarried children under
twenty-one—here as permanent residents, although there are plenty of hoops to
jump through, and it’s not always quick or easy. For other types of “family
preferences,” an even more complex set of rules lays out “priority” categories
and annual caps based on the family relationship and country of origin. Waiting
times of ten to twenty years are not uncommon. In February 2015 the government
was still processing family visa applications from as far back as August 1991.
While they wait, applicants are disqualified from visiting the United States
because they have shown “immigrant intent” by applying for immigrant visas.

Some conservatives now object to the “family preference”
system, but it was actually introduced into the 1965 Immigration Act as a
concession to conservative politicians who wanted to keep Asians and Africans
out of the United States. Family preferences would mean “there will not be,
comparatively, many Asians or Africans entering the country,” Representative
Emmanuel Celler, a liberal New York Democrat who cosponsored the 1965 law, said
in Congress during the final debate on the bill, “Since the people of Africa
and Asia have very few relatives here, comparatively few could immigrate from
those countries because they have no family ties to the U.S.”

What about the work visa and the “visa lottery”?

The government can also issue up to 140,000 immigrant visas
a year for five categories of workers, and each of these has its own numerical
limitations. The categories include professionals, people with special skills,
and cultural or sports figures. There are openings for religious workers,
former U.S. government employees, and investors, but only 5,000 visas can be
issued to unskilled workers.

In 1986, Congress created a temporary category of
“diversity” visas to bolster immigration from Europe, which had slowed thanks
to a growing European economy. The Immigration Act of 1990 made the program
permanent starting in 1995. The Diversity Immigrant Visa Program, often called
the “visa lottery,” allocates 50,000 immigrant visas to different parts of the
world under a formula favoring regions that have sent relatively few immigrants in the previous
five years. Natives of countries that have sent more than 50,000 immigrants to
the United States during the past five years are disqualified from
participating in the lottery.

[We’re occasionally posting excerpts from the new edition ofThe Politics of Immigration: Questions and Answers. You can orderhereor from your favorite bookseller.]

About The Politics of Immigration

The Politics of Immigration: Questions and Answers is a book that goes beyond soundbites to tackle concerns about immigration in straightforward language and an accessible question-and-answer format. For immigrants and supporters, the book is a useful tool to confront stereotypes and disinformation. For those who are undecided about immigration, it lays out the facts and clear reasoning they need to develop an informed opinion. Ideal for classroom use, the updated and expanded 2017 edition provides a succinct overview of U.S. immigration history, policy, and practice, with detailed notes guiding readers toward further exploration.
Guskin and Wilson have written extensively on immigration and facilitated dozens of dialogues on the topic with students, community activists, congregations, and other public audiences. To arrange a dialogue or for more information, contact them at thepoliticsofimmigration@gmail.com.
To stay in the loop on author events and related resources, follow the book on Twitter (@Immigration_QA) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/ImmigrationQA/).